Text 463, 124 rader
Skriven 2005-04-24 10:16:00 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: [1 of 2] Vatican Information Service (Press Release)
============================================================
Hello All!

                The following press release is Copyrighted by the
                          Vatican Information Service.
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                               VIS-Press releases

LIKE JESUS, I WILL BE A SHEPHERD, LIKE PETER, A FISHER OF MEN

VATICAN CITY, APR 24, 2005 (VIS) - Given below is the text of the homily -
published in English, French, Spanish, Italian and German - delivered by the
Pope during the Mass for the inauguration of his pontificate:

"Your Eminences, my dear brother bishops and priests, distinguished authorities
and members of the diplomatic corps, dear brothers and sisters.

During these days of great intensity, we have chanted the litany of the saints
on three different occasions: at the funeral of our Holy Father John Paul II;
as the cardinals entered the conclave; and again today, when we sang it with
the response: 'Tu illum adiuva' - sustain the new Successor of Saint Peter. On
each occasion, in a particular way, I found great consolation in listening to
this prayerful chant. How alone we all felt after the passing of John Paul II -
the Pope who for over twenty-six years had been our shepherd and guide on our
journey through life! He crossed the threshold of the next life, entering into
the mystery of God. But he did not take this step alone. Those who believe are
never alone - neither in life nor in death. At that moment, we could call upon
the Saints from every age - his friends, his brothers and sisters in the faith
- knowing that they would form a living procession to accompany him into the
next world, into the glory of God. We knew that his arrival was awaited. Now we
know that he is among his own and is truly at home.

"We were also consoled as we made our solemn entrance into conclave, to elect
the one whom the Lord had chosen. How would we be able to discern his name? How
could 115 bishops, from every culture and every country, discover the one on
whom the Lord wished to confer the mission of binding and loosing? Once again,
we knew that we were not alone, we knew that we were surrounded, led and guided
by the friends of God. And now, at this moment, weak servant of God that I am,
I must assume this enormous task, which truly exceeds all human capacity. How
can I do this? How will I be able to do it? All of you, my dear friends, have
just invoked the entire host of saints, represented by some of the great names
in the history of God's dealings with mankind. In this way, I too can say with
renewed conviction: I am not alone. I do not have to carry alone what in truth
I could never carry alone. All the Saints of God are there to protect me, to
sustain me and to carry me. And your prayers, my dear friends, your indulgence,
your love, your faith and your hope accompany me. Indeed, the communion of
saints consists not only of the great men and women who went before us and
whose names we know. All of us belong to the communion of saints, we who have
been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
we who draw life from the gift of Christ's Body and Blood, through which He
transforms us and makes us like Himself.

"Yes, the Church is alive - this is the wonderful experience of these days.
During those sad days of the Pope's illness and death, it became wonderfully
evident to us that the Church is alive. And the Church is young. She holds
within herself the future of the world and therefore shows each of us the way
towards the future. The Church is alive and we are seeing it: we are
experiencing the joy that the Risen Lord promised His followers. The Church is
alive - she is alive because Christ is alive, because He is truly risen. In the
suffering that we saw on the Holy Father's face in those days of Easter, we
contemplated the mystery of Christ's Passion and we touched His wounds. But
throughout these days we have also been able, in a profound sense, to touch the
Risen One. We have been able to experience the joy that He promised, after a
brief period of darkness, as the fruit of His resurrection.

"The Church is alive - with these words, I greet with great joy and gratitude
all of you gathered here, my venerable brother cardinals and bishops, my dear
priests, deacons, Church workers, catechists. I greet you, men and women
religious, witnesses of the transfiguring presence of God. I greet you, members
of the lay faithful, immersed in the great task of building up the Kingdom of
God which spreads throughout the world, in every area of life. With great
affection I also greet all those who have been reborn in the Sacrament of
Baptism but are not yet in full communion with us; and you, my brothers and
sisters of the Jewish people, to whom we are joined by a great shared spiritual
heritage, one rooted in God's irrevocable promises. Finally, like a wave
gathering force, my thoughts go out to all men and women of today, to believers
and non-believers alike.

"Dear friends! At this moment there is no need for me to present a program of
governance. I was able to give an indication of what I see as my task in my
Message of Wednesday April 20, and there will be other opportunities to do so.
My real program of governance is not to do my own will, not to pursue my own
ideas, but to listen, together with the whole Church, to the word and the will
of the Lord, to be guided by Him, so that He Himself will lead the Church at
this hour of our history. Instead of putting forward a program, I should simply
like to comment on the two liturgical symbols which represent the inauguration
of the Petrine Ministry; both these symbols, moreover, reflect clearly what we
heard proclaimed in today's readings.

"The first symbol is the pallium, woven in pure wool, which will be placed on
my shoulders. This ancient sign, which the bishops of Rome have worn since the
fourth century, may be considered an image of the yoke of Christ, which the
bishop of this city, the Servant of the Servants of God, takes upon his
shoulders. God's yoke is God's will, which we accept. And this will does not
weigh down on us, oppressing us and taking away our freedom. To know what God
wants, to know where the path of life is found - this was Israel's joy, this
was her great privilege. It is also our joy: God's will does not alienate us,
it purifies us - even if this can be painful - and so it leads us to ourselves.
In this way, we serve not only Him, but the salvation of the whole world, of
all history.

"The symbolism of the pallium is even more concrete: the lamb's wool is meant
to represent the lost, sick or weak sheep which the shepherd places on his
shoulders and carries to the waters of life. For the Fathers of the Church, the
parable of the lost sheep, which the shepherd seeks in the desert, was an image
of the mystery of Christ and the Church. The human race - every one of us - is
the sheep lost in the desert which no longer knows the way. The Son of God will
not let this happen; He cannot abandon humanity in so wretched a condition. He
leaps to his feet and abandons the glory of heaven, in order to go in search of
the sheep and pursue it, all the way to the Cross. He takes it upon His
shoulders and carries our humanity; He carries us all - He is the good shepherd
who lays down His life for the sheep. What the pallium indicates first and
foremost is that we are all carried by Christ. But at the same time it invites
us to carry one another. Hence the pallium becomes a symbol of the shepherd's
mission, of which the second reading and the Gospel speak. The pastor must be
inspired by Christ's holy zeal: for him it is not a matter of indifference that
so many people are living in the desert. And there are so many kinds of desert.
There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of
abandonment, of loneliness, of destroyed love. There is the desert of God's
darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal
of human life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the
internal deserts have become so vast. Therefore the earth's treasures no longer

--- MPost/386 v1.21
 * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS New Orleans 1-504-897-6006 USR 33.6k (1:396/45)